The One With A Different Coffee House
by remusaur
Summary: The one where Joey moves together with Chandler and realizes how kisses can be oh-so wonderful and not just an invitation to sex. Alternate Universe. Slash, angst and fluff.
1. The One Where I'm just setting the story

AUTHORS NOTE:  
>This is set in an alternate universe. The setting may be the same, but I'm shit at working around the show's episode-timeline, so I'm doing it my way. X<p>

Joey - short for Joseph - Tribbiani, amateur actor and professional slacker. Currently working at a café in central New York. For about three years he'd told himself that the work was only temporarily, something to pay the bills before he got his big break through. Unfortunately, he was still waiting on that break through.

"Maybe I should just quit acting and, you know… get a real job?" He sighed and leaned against the counter. Rachel, his friend and co-worker who got him his job at the coffee house, protested and smacked him with a towel.

"Nuh-uh, Joey! You're not a bad actor, you just need to find the right play! Nobody can perform in those kind of shit plays you've been in!"

Joey rolled his eyes, continued cleaning the cappucino machine. He furrowed his brow, clearly thinking about what to say next. Though, he didn't open his mouth again and Rachel clearly figured that either he just couldn't come up with what to say, or he'd just lost track of his thoughts… again.

Joey valued his friends over everything else in his life. He loved late nights at Monica's - and Rachel's - place, that just so happened to be just across the halls from his own appartment. He loved going to Knicks-games with Ross and he loved having late night phone-calls with Phoebe over stuff that the other guys would just laugh at. Even though he loved his friends, he felt like they were always, like, ahead of him… Monica was top chef at a three star restaurant, Ross was a phaleo-whatever-or-something at the museum and both of them made quite a lot of money. Both Rachel and Phoebe were on Joey's level money-wise and he loved them both to death… but they were girls - that he couldn't sleep with mind you - and were on a different level-level ish.

This night, as all other nights, he found himself sitting in a armchair in Monica's and Rachel's appartment waiting for the clock to turn eight so that he could watch Baywatch. The other's weren't so into the tvshow, but they knew that it meant a lot to Joey so they let him have it.

"Hey, Mon", he said after a sudden realization. "Where's Ross?"

"I don't know. He should be here by now?" Monica said, slightly unfocused as she was cooking. _Oh,_ cooking. Joey smiled widely and stood up, making his way into the kitchen and snatched a piece of pasta out of her… cooking… thing. And while he did, the door opened.

"Hey guys", said the familiar voice belonging to Monica's older brother Ross, followed by a man who Joey couldn't recognize at all. "Look who I found? It's Chandler Bing" - at this point, Joey shuckled and everyone knew that it was because of Chandler's last name - "we went to college together!"

"Oh my god, Chandler?" Monica shone with recognition and hugged Chandler - what kind of name was that anyway? - who looked really uncomfortable and not at all as he knew who Monica was.

"Oh, that's my sister. That's Monica", Ross explained, just realizing that Chandler might not know her or something.

"Oh! Monica! You've lost, like, so much we- I'mma stop talking", said Chandler with an uncomfortable smile. Monica seemed clearly put off, but returned to her cooking with a faint smile while Ross continued to introduce his friends. Both Rachel and Phoebe greeted the new guy with handshakes and… such, but Joey got far more intruiged by his clock beeping.

"'m sorry", he excused himself, avoided the other guys and made a jump over the couch as per usual. He took the tvremote and turned on the tv, smiling widely as the Baywatch opening credits rolled up.

"Hey, is that Baywatch?"

"Yeah", grunted Joey without even turning his head. He didn't wanna be disturbed, but he could let it slip this time, since the new guy didn't know that.

"Man, I love Baywatch"

This actually made Joey turn his head, grinning widely against the guy.

"Really? Well, have a seat, Chandler Bing"

During a time span of half a minute, Joey really took a liking to Ross's old college buddy, especially when he suggested that Baywatch should "keep 'em running".

Everybody wanted Chandler to tell the story of why he actually was in New York - you know, after Baywatch. After a couple of uncomfortable jokes from Chandler, he finally said that he'd left his job back in something - Joey didn't listen, didn't care - and moved to New York to just get a fresh restart.

"So, where are you living?" Ross asked, carefully taking his eyes of Rachel. Joey rolled his eyes, not understanding how a dude could be so obsessed with a girl. For God's sake, you slept with one and passed on. Stupid fuck. Joey missed Chandler's some-sorta-joke or whatever, and just kept listening when he got to the point.

"I'm staying at a hotel, but I've been looking for a cheap flat or something."

"Hey, Joey", Monica remarked. "Aren't you looking for a flat mate? You know, to ease off the rent?"


	2. The One Where Joey learns about stuff

And so, Chandler moved in the flat across the hall. Joey liked living with Chandler, he really did. They watched Baywatch together, ate pizza and drank beer and everything just… went on. And it was stupid but in a couple of few months, Chandler bumped Ross from Joey's best guy friend list, which made Ross kind of hurt in - what Chandler and Joey both agreed being - a very Ross-esque kind of way. It was Joey who came up with the word "Ross-esque" which he was _very_ proud over, by the way.

"Hey, Chandler, you're coming to Thanksgiving at Monica's, right?" Joey asked while changing to his Thanksgiving pants - those with a stretchy waist. Chandler had comfortably placed himself in one of the chairs in their living room, zapping through the various not-so-funny channels.

"Nah, I don't know", he said. "I don't celebrate Thanksgiving"

"What?!" Joey stumbled out into the living room and fell over since he only had one leg in his Thanksgiving pants. "You don't celebrate Thanksgiving? What's wrong with you, man?"

"Except for, everything?" Chandler asked with a half-uncomfortable sigh. "I just haven't… You know, I don't have a good track record with Thanksgivings, see?"

Thay was just plain stupid, Joey thought. So what if you'd had a bad Thanksgiving once? You don't turn down food, especially not Monica's!

But then again, he remembered, Chandler was no Tribbiani.

Joey really liked Thanksgiving. The parade,_ good_. The football game, _good._ The food, _really good._ Plus, he kind of liked hanging out with his friends as well. Chandler didn't like Thanksgiving, but Joey had convinced him to come across after several tries and bribes - one of them was Joey promising to play Playstation and watch Baywatch with him the whole day with only four food breaks(!)

"Dude, why aren't you celebrating Thanksgiving anyways?" Joey muttered over the dinner table. He'd eaten half of Monica's turkey while Chandler'd stuck with macarooni and cheese. Joey couldn't simply figure it out why someone'd choose macarooni and cheese while you just as well could've eaten turkey or - mind you - both.

"What?" Ross said with his usual, high pitched exclamation. "You haven't told him? You told Phoebe weeks ago."

Chandler glared at Ross, sliding down the chair a bit.

"Gee, Ross, thanks for telling someone that I've _obviously_ not told him something that everybody else already knows!"

"Why does everyone else know?" Joey whined. "I wanna know too! It's not fair!"

To console himself, Joey reached across the table and grabbed a handful of potato tots.

"Joe, listen, it's nothing… My parents told me about their divorce over a Thanksgiving dinner when I was nine…"

Chandler was scratching his neck and looked clearly uncomfortable. Not usual "Chandler's-let's-crack-a-joke-uncomfortable", but _really_ uncomfortable. Joey couldn't quite figure out why, divorces happens and it was rarely the childrens fault. He'd learnt that a couple of years ago when he'd dated a girl that… let's just say that her parents'd had a divorce and Joey didn't quite understand… stuff…

"No, but seriously man, why don't you like Thanksgiving?" Joe asked again, later that evening when all six of them were sitting in Monica's couch and realized that _God_ they've ate too much. "I mean, so your parents had a divorce? My parents fighted all the time during Thanksgiving and Christmas, and I still celebrates it?"

"It's _fought_, Joe. _Fought_", Chandler sneered. "Plus, I bet that your dad didn't tell you that he cheated on your mom with the poolboy?!"

Joey looked clearly distressed and sad that he'd forced the answer out of his friend. He sighed and stood up.

"Listen… I'm sorry, okay? See you guys tomorrow", he said and left the room, leaving the five others sitting. And by now, all of them looked clearly distressed. Chandler the most, the other ones looked mostly uncomfortable.

Chandler avoided going back into his and Joey's appartment for the longest of time, but when he fell asleep in Monica's armchair he realized that he couldn't stay any longer. So he got to his feet, and left the purple appartment.  
>He found Joey sitting on one of the high chairs by the counter. He was… eating. <em>(Good God, how much could a person even eat?)<em>

"Hey, Joe", Chandler began carefully. "Listen… I'm sorry about earlier. I really didn't mean to snap at you like that… Really…"

"It's okay Chandler", Joey said with a mouthful of refridgerator-pizza.

"No, it's not. Listen", he sat down on the high chair next to Joey's. "My past is… past for a reason… I didn't like it, and most of all did my past not like me. I'm sorry, please forgive me?"

And Joey did forgive him. How could he not? He had refridgerator-pizza, which always made him in a happy and - sort of - forgiving mood.

"By the way", Chandler added after they've decided to rewatch _Die Hard_. "I lost a toe on a Thanksgiving once."

Joey completely lost it.


End file.
